Walter Schneir (1927–2009)

I have long been intrigued by the Rosenbergs, the Russian spies, and their legal case. The premise of this book is that the Rosenbergs were not guilty as charge. Julius was unequivocally a spy for Russia, but the authors don't believe that he is guilty as charged, ie., for passing the secret of the atom bomb to Russia. In fact they don't think that Ethel Rosenberg was even a spy. They do accept that he was a spy and they believe that Ethel was not though that is not to say that she might not have collaborated. The authors, a husband-wife team believe the real culprits were David and Ruth Greenglass. David was Ethel's brother. The authors believe that protect themselves they were more than willing to testify against the Rosenbergs. As we know the Rosenbergs were put to death at Sing Sing. The conflict seems to be that they may not have been guilty of the charges in which case they shouldn't be executed but they were found guilty because she was a spy inspite of the charges. I perfer Allen Weinstein's book on the subject though I read it long ago and i don't know how it would stand up today.… (mais)